Its Lake City 03 with cannelure. The guy tells me this is NOT 855 and doesn't have steel core. Price is $200/1000.  Is this just military seconds...or worse? Want to shoot it out of a 6920.  hinking.gif

if it's a green tip and it wasn't painted on there by some buffoon, then it's probably XM855pd.  Mirage Technologies has it for 169 per grand delivered.  Good stuff, in my case I only had like 4 bad rounds out of 2000.

Quoted: if it's a green tip and it wasn't painted on there by some buffoon, then it's probably XM855pd.  Mirage Technologies has it for 169 per grand delivered.  Good stuff, in my case I only had like 4 bad rounds out of 2000.

I have shot thousands of rounds of  XM855PD from Mirage and no problems.  All three of my ARs shoot it fine.   If its steel or steel core a magnet will stick to it.  Never leave home without a magnet.  I carry one on all my key rings.

If it has a green tip and is 5.56, it should be M855 without a doubt.  Someone could have painted the green on, but who would be so diabolical?  Would it be worth all the work?  Maybe on a very large scale, but...

I bought a 1000 rd case of 5.56 62 gr. ammo, marked thus:

FOR TRAINING USE ONLY
CARTRIDGES, SMALL ARMS, 1.4S, UN0012, II
5.56 CARTRIDGES, 62 GRAIN
FULL METAL JACKET COMPOSITE CORE BULLET

It does not say XM855PD anywhere on the box, and the bullets are not green tip, but a magnet will stick.

Headstamps are:  LC 02 and a circle with a cross in it.

Any info as to what this is?  Shoots good, so far.

UN0012 is definitely M855, per the DoD TM on small arms ammo in the Info area, Chapter 10.

XM855PD may only be a product number/type used by Federal in marketing milspec rejects.

Sounds like you have the real McCoy.

Quoted: Sounds like you have the real McCoy.

Why would it say for " training purposes only" if it war first line M855?

Speculation is that, when Lake City began the increased production runs in response to 9-11, a fair amount of the ammo was found not to meet all the milspec standards, primarily in the application of the sealant around the primer and case neck.

Because of this, such ammo could not be placed into long term storage or be subjected to climate conditions which might render it useless, such as high humidity, or to battle conditions, where it might get wet. While such issues are not critical for commercial grade ammo, they certainly are for the military.

Possibly because a fair amount was involved and it was decided not to waste it, DoD apparently decided that it was OK to package it and ship it to units with the warning that it was not to be considered "issue ammo" but that it was OK to use for "training purposes", such as for zeroing and for practice firing a weapon after it was repaired. One member reported from the Sandbox that his unit had in fact received several of the 1,000 round bulk packed boxes of the XM855PD, accompanied by the above warnings, and had been instructed to use it up as quickly as possible.

General consensus is that XM855PD (and the 20 rd boxes of XM193) is Grade 2 ammo, not up to milspec standards but otherwise "good to go", while the bulk packed XM193PD is Grade 3, needing careful inspection on a round-by-round basis before deciding to fire it.

If loose XM193PD is grade three and loose XM855PD is grade 2?  Then why does 855 PD get trashed so much in the forum?

Well I went ahead and bought it and shot some out of my brand new 16" with rough trigger and stock iron sights.  5-shot at 50 yds went 1.3"   Good enuff!  

Another satisfied customer.

Quoted: If loose XM193PD is grade three and loose XM855PD is grade 2?  Then why does 855 PD get trashed so much in the forum?

I'd like to know this as well? I just picked through a box of 1K that I bought this morning and found no problems with any of the rounds. I think maybe I'll go back and buy another 1K tomorrow.

I have been through 4k rounds of loose XM855PD in three ARs just this year and have not had a problem.  I am really happy I stocked up when it was $169k at Mirage.